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Arthropodians
Arthropodians are anthropomorphic arthropods; arthropods being the phylum of invertebrate animals that have an external skeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. It is the phylum insects and similar creatures as well as crustaceans belong too. Despite the unease the appearance of these creatures generates in humans and amount of arthropodic creatures in fiction, there's no common narrative for them. Etymology A mixture of "arthropod" and "-ian", "Arthropodian" means "related to arthropods". "-ian", which is descended from "-anus", is Latin. "Arthropod" is based on a fusion of two Ancient Greek words: "ἄρθρον" ("árthron"), which translates to "joint", and "πούς" ("poús"), which is "foot". "Arthropodian" thus translates to "one with jointed feet". "Arthropodian" alternatively is spelled "arthropodean". There is no technical difference between them, but as "arthropodean" is the established spelling for "related to arthropods", "arthropodian" is more often used for fictional anthropomorphic arthropods. History Arthropods in human view can be divided in two groups: land-dwelling and water-dwelling. Water-dwelling ones are largely associated with the unknown of the seas and oceans and play into fears of another world that can decide to attack at any time. Land-dwelling ones are regarded more favorably, representing a vast miniature world that is both different and similar to the one humans occupy. Spiders are especially popular as characters in mythology, while winged insects are both associated and identified with fairies since the 19th century. Girtablilu, scorpion men who have the head and torso of a human and the lower body of a scorpion, are Mesopotamian monsters. They are mentioned in the Enûma Eliš, the region's creation myth that emerged between 2000 and 1000 BCE and of which the oldest surviving text is commonly thought to have been created in 1100 BCE. The girtablilu are among the eleven monsters created by Tiamat to destroy her older descendents for the murder of her husband Apsû. They fail, but go on to become the gatekeepers at the mountains of Mashu for Shamash. They appear in tablet IX of the version of the Epic of Gilgamesh as written down at some point between the 13th to the 10th centuries BCE, though they could be part of versions of the epic that are many centuries older yet (largely) lost. In Roman additions to Greek mythology, there are two myths surrounding the transition of a human to an arthropod or vice versa, namely Arachne and the Myrmidons. Both have versions written up in Ovid's 8 CE Metamorphoses, respectively in Book VI and Book VII. In the story of Arachne, the titular character angers the goddess Athena during a weaving contest, who turns her into a spider as punishment. Alternatively, the transformation is a gift or act of mercy from Athena. The story of the Myrmidons also knows two variations. The Myrmidons are a nation of first class soldiers hailing from the island Aegina and are first mentioned in Homer's Iliad, which is usually dated to around the eighth century BCE. In this version, they are average humans, but later-written origin stories link them to ants. Specifically, their name "Μυρμιδόνες" ("Murmidónes") sounds like the Ancient Greek word for "ant-nest", which is "μυρμηδών"("murmēdón"), from "μύρμηξ" ("múrmēks") as the Ancient Greek word for "ant". Depending on the version, either their eponymous ancestor, Myrmidon was conceived while his parents or at least his father, Zeus, had taken the form of an ant, or Zeus repopulated Aegina after a terrible plague by changing the ants of the island into people on King Aeacus's request. In Japanese mythology, arthropodic creatures among the youkai include the ushi-oni and the jorougumo. Ushi-oni, "ox demons" whose history goes back to the Heian period, come in a variety of shapes, of which only one has arthropodic qualities. This version is a creature of the sea and lives off the coast of Shimane Prefecture and other places in Western Japan. It is traditionally envisioned as a spider or crab with the head of an ox, but these days also is often depicted with a human torso between the bovine head and spider/crab-like body. In its legend, it is partnered with a nure-onna who incapacitates a fisherman at Iwami for the ushi-oni to devour, though the fisherman manages to escape. Jorougumo, "binding brides" or "whore spiders" whose history goes back to the Edo period, are female spiders of over 400 years of age. They have acquired supernatural powers and are capable of turning themselves into human women, which is sometimes done to lure men and eat them. There are two identified jorougumo, one from the Jōren Falls in Izu and one from Kashikobuchi in Sendai. The first either aided or fell in love with a woodcutter, but he betrayed her and so she killed him. The second tried to kill a woodcutter by catching him with spider threads and pulling him into the water, but he cut the threads and tied them to treestump that got pulled into the water instead. Impressed, the jorougumo came to protect people from drowning. Among the worldwide collection of trickster entities, the Akan/West African spider Anansi is one of the most well-known tricksters, largely because (involuntary) migration during the colonial centuries spread his stories to the Americas. Anansi is a deity-spirit and is associated with the rain, the tide, agriculture, community, and storytelling. His tricks range from impressive god-defying acts to pitiful acts born from envy. Murder is not outside of his repertoire. He is depicted in various ways: sometimes he's human-looking, sometimes he has the shape of a spider, other times he is a spider dressed as a human, and sometimes he's a human with spider parts or vice versa. Another trickster spider, who is not in anyway related to Anansi, is Iktomi of Lakotan mythology. He too is a deity-spirit, and he is associated with language, games, names, stories, and invention. One particular prophecy states that Iktomi's web will one day reach every corner of the land, which is these days interpreted to mean the telephone network and the internet. Sometimes, ill intentions of others condemned him to a spider form and his tricks are retaliation for the fun made of him. Other times, he can shapeshift and his tricks, both beneficial and malicious, are expressions of his whim. He can use threads to control humans like puppets and is a skilled potion maker. A modern day interpretation of him appears in the 2002 movie Skins. In the Western horror scene of the 20th century, it is the 1957 novel The Fly by George Langelaan that is iconic for bringing in arthropodic monstrosities. The Fly is by far Langelaan's most popular story, spawning one movie adaption in 1958 and one 1986 with three sequels between them and an opera adaption in 2008. The basic concept is that there's a scientist, André Delambre, who is looking into teleportation. He has built a machine to do that, but when he tests it on himself, a fly enters his pod. Upon reemerging in the other pod, André's arm and head have been swapped with the fly's. Horrified, he involves his wife Helene to find the fly and reverse the transformation. They don't find it and with nothing else to do, André reenters the machine to see if it will fix things on its own. Instead, André comes out looking even worse and gets Helene to assist him with suicide. She does, committing suicide herself shortly after. The two leave behind a son who is used as the protagonist of the sequel movies. The Mothman is a cryptid at the center of a series of events and reports that occured in Point Pleasant from 1966 to 1967, though the creature did not became known to the rest of the world until books were written about it in the '70s. In the final months of 1966, people started reporting encounters with a creature described as a "large flying man with ten-foot wings" and a "large bird with red eyes". In some reports, it appears to be harmless, while in others it appears to be hostile. Follow-up reports mention lights in the sky and the appearance of peculiar men in the city. The final part of the Mothman's story is tragically the only part that is fact: the sudden collapse Silver Bridge and subsequent death of 46 people. Though undoubtedly something triggered the collective panic, all but some of the Mothman reports have been proven false, unreliable, exaggerated, or the result of prank specifically meant to make use of the situation. The Mothman itself is usually explained as nothing more extraordinary than a heron or a barred owl, although those explanations aren't proven either. Because of this, the discussion regarding the Mothman continues among cryptid enthusiasts and is alternately explained as an alien visitor or a product of the ahistorical curse of Chief Cornstalk. Fiction Monster High The Monster High arthropodians are Wydowna Spider and her mother Arachne, Buzz Wingman, and Bonita Femur and her father the Mothman. There's also a mantis boy backgrounder and a Create-A-Monster iteration of an anthropomorphic bee, and a trademark for one Luna Mothews suggests another arthropodian is to make their entry soon. Nearly all Monster High arthropodians have the ability to fly. Buzz Wingman, a former backgrounder, is the first of the Monster High arthropodians introduced. He is a small anthropomorphic fly, undoubtedly based on the titular character of The Fly, though he does not resemble any source iteration of the character. In the original story, the Fly is a human with a fly-shaped head and arm, while in the '80s movies the Fly looks like neither his donors. Buzz, on the other hand, is a full humanoid fly and even has wings. Whether Buzz is an arthropodian by birth or by fusion, as the source character is, is unknown, as is which is the case for his parents. The next arthropodian introduced is Wydowna Spider, who is an anthropomorphic black widow spider. She is the daughter of Arache, who in Roman-Greek mythology started out as a Lydian human and was turned into a spider by Athena. It is not uncommon for modern interpretations of Arachne to be a mixture of a human and a spider, especially when she's cast as a villain, but it is not a form she ever has in the original myth. The myth does not mention what kind of spider Arachne became and Wydowna being a black widow spider is Monster High's own contribution. According to her doll profile quotes, she can speak with regular spiders, as she has a conversation with Memphis "Daddy O" Longlegs. Among the arthropodians, Wydowna stands out for having six arms, while the others only have two even though their kinds of arthropods also have more than four limbs. Like her mother, Wydowna is skilled in creating and processing fabrics of all kinds. Arachne herself is said to be an old friend of Medusa in Wydowna Spider's SDCCI diary. This is a reference to the fact both women in their respective myths started out as humans whose forms were changed through an encounter with the goddess Athena. In the same diary, she and Wydowna are said to speak Arachnean in addition to English. Bonita Femur, a skeleton-Mothman hybrid, followed soon after Wydowna. Her design may have been inspired by the goddess Itzpapalotl of Aztec mythology, who is skeletal in appearance, associated with moths, and some of the time depicted with moth wings. The name "Bonita" suggests an intended Latin American heritage, similar to Skelita, whose existence is owed to Natalie Villegas. Bonita appears to be an anthropomorphic rosy maple moth, which is a North American moth species, and her wings evoke the ones on the Mothman statue that stands in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia since 2003. As moths are wont to do, Bonita eats fabrics, including bits of her own clothes. Notes * The genie Gigi Grant is designed to resemble an anthropomorphic scorpion. * Though not arthropodians, arthropodic pets include Memphis "Daddy O" Longlegs, Azura, Nati, Shoo, and Sultan Sting. * Wydowna Spider's SDCCI diary mentions a Hornet Robberfly. It is so far unclear who he is but for the two facts that he is a "bad boy" and the object of affection of Shoo. * Starting Volume 4 of the cartoon, the main cast is occasionally assisted by a swarm of fireflies, such as in "So You Think You Can Date" and "Just Ghost to Show Ya". * One of the explanations given for will-o'-the-wisps are fireflies. External links * Arachne the Spinner at Myths & Legends * Mothman at Prairie Ghosts Category:Monster history Category:Arthropodians